Wednesday, 16 Jul 2014 09:12 AM By Peter Morici The economy is recovering from a harsher-than-normal winter, but the pace of growth for the balance of this year and next will not create nearly enough decent jobs for the millions unemployed and recent graduates working at venues like Starbucks. It's easy for President Obama to blame Republicans in Congress, and vice versa, and for both to put[...]
Month: July 2014
Richard Russell – People Are Going Broke & It Will Get Ugly – Telling Listeners to Buy Financial Insc.
At nearly 90 years old, the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, warned that he expects this ongoing crisis to get very ugly. The 60-year market veteran also included some very troubling guest commentaries warning that, sadly, people are simply going broke in the United States. Russell: “The market fooled me. I thought the Dow would advance to a new high, unconfirmed by the[...]
Yellen: Economy Still Needs Fed Stimulus – Wages Rising Too Slowly, Fed Chair Says
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - Although the job market is improving, it's still not strong enough to fully satisfy Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. Wages are rising too slowly, and too few Americans are participating in the job market, she told senators on Tuesday. "Although the economy continues to improve, the recovery is not yet complete," Yellen said in testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing [...]
Gold Plunges Back Below $1300 As “Someone” Dumps $2.3 Billion In Futures – Paper Machinations
With The Fed proclaiming bubbles in some of the most-loved segments of the stock market and explaining that the economy is doing "ok" but they must remain dovish for longer for feasr of "false dawns"... what better time than now to dump $2.3 Billion notional in futures... of course the dump in gold's anti-status quo price coincided with an odd v-shaped recovery in stocks... Gold remains above its [...]
Janet Yellen Gives Her Clearest Comments Ever About How She Missed The Crisis And How She Sees The World
In Nicholas Lemann's profile of Fed Chair Janet Yellen in this week's "New Yorker," Janet Yellen says she knew the housing market was dangerous before the financial crisis. "In 2005 and 2006, [Yellen] began to be concerned that there was a dangerous bubble in in the housing markets," Lemann writes. From Lemann's profile: "'I'm sorry that light bulbs didn't go off in my head a couple of years [...]
Peter Morici: Washington Debauchery and Fed Follies
Monday, 14 Jul 2014 09:12 AM By Peter Morici Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen will testify to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday about the economy and future Fed policy. We won't learn much about either, because the Fed refuses to recognize the facts on the ground. Its policymaking committee recently stated inflation is below 2 percent. Yet, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer [...]
Mission Accomplished: Retail Piles In To Stocks As Pros Pile Out – Rug to be Pulled Out in Near Future
With year-end target after year-end target having been met and raised by the oh-so-ethical sell-side strategists and asset-gatherers, it appears the Fed's grand plan of dragging every bit of cash into the increasingly more risky equity markets is working. After a rally driven more by financial engineering that real sustainable growth, Bloomberg reports, individual investors are plowing money back [...]
The Deteriorating Economic Outlook – Wake-Up, Face Facts & Prepare
By Paul Craig Roberts, Dave Kranzler and John Williams. The third and final estimate (until the annual GDP revisions) of first quarter 2014 real GDP growth released June 25 by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis was a 2.9% contraction in GDP growth, a 5.5 percentage point difference from the January forecast of 2.6% growth. Apparently, the first quarter contraction was dismissed by those[...]
Another sign the bull market (in stocks) is nearing its end
Analysis: Companies no longer want to buy their own shares, a worrisome sign By: Mark Hulbert - MarketWatch CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — Here’s another sign the bull market in stocks may be nearing an end: Companies have dramatically reduced share repurchases. New stock buybacks fell to $23.2 billion in June, the lowest level in a year and a half, according to fund tracker TrimTabs[...]
Why Jobs Are Scarce, Wages Low and Government Can’t Help
Thursday, 10 Jul 2014 - By Peter Morici Americans keep hoping for a robust recovery — one that delivers better-paying jobs and decent returns on retirement savings. Changes in technology and the economy may require that never happens, and government efforts to improve conditions often multiply the misery. In 1908, Henry Ford had a great idea — the Model T — and a novel understanding of[...]